Chloe's new life
by MelodyGrace1809
Summary: Chloe gets kicked out by her dad. She just starts to warm up to her new life with just her and her mom, when a few unexpected occurrences happen. I wonder what? Guess you'll have to read to find out! :) Post reveal, but mainly Chloe based. Queen bee! I don't own MLB.
1. Chapter 1

"I'm sorry, Chloe, but having you living here with me isn't going to work anymore." Andre sighed, avoiding meeting his daughter's eyes.

"B-but Daddy?!" Chloe desperately began, "What am I supposed to do?" She had finally let down her bitchy front, too upset to keep her cocky face. She was crying. A lot. This was a new side Andre hadn't seen, since her mother left.

"You.. you are going to go live with your mother." Wide blue eyes enlarged in front of him as the words escaped his mouth. "I'm sorry, Chloe, and you know I love you, but I have to do this. It's for your own good." He tried to assure her.

"What did I ever do to you?" She screamed dramatically, then stormed off towards her room.

"Wait, Chloe!" He yelled frantically. "You know why you have to move out, Chloe. People think that I am being an influence on you. The way you behave at school, it isn't good for people to think that of their mayor. Also, I think I might be spoiling you too much."

"So does that mean I have to give up all my things?" Horror crossed her face.

"No! Sweetie. No. Look, living with your mother will not be that bad. I've already called her, and she is expecting you tomorrow." Andre placed his hand on his daughter's back, which was quickly rising and falling.

"Ugh, fine!" She suddenly sat tall, and resumed her normal attitude, despite being a little weaker. "Get rid of me. It won't do well for you, but whatever."

* * *

"M-mom?" Chloe timidly knocked on the door of the house the driver had taken her to. She had never been here before. It was quite far from where she lived before, and smaller, but not a dump like she'd expected. She heard shuffling inside. The chauffeur dumped the last bag beside her and quickly left, as the lock in the door turned.

Chloe had not seen her mother since her parents broke up. Ten... Eleven years ago. From what Chloe remembered, she hadn't changed at all. She still had a small frame, which Chloe had inherited. With slender arms and legs, and a tiny waist, so small you would hardly believe she gave birth fifteen years ago.

Her eyes were emerald, similar to those of Adrien's. She remembered how, when they were younger, she would look into Adrien's eyes and remember her mother's. It helped her when her mother left.

Her hair was blonde, which Chloe had also inherited. Currently, it was loose around her shoulders. She was wearing jeans and a loose t-shirt. If she was anyone else, Chloe would have criticized her outfit, but it only brought her back to the old memories she was keeping locked inside.

"Mom?" Her voice was cracking and questioning, but there was no doubt in Chloe's mind that this was the woman she hadn't seen for eleven years.

"Chloe" Marie smiled, and scooped up her daughter in a giant hug. At first, Chloe was ginger and stiff, but one sniff of the perfume brought her back to her childhood, and she melted into the embrace.

"Don't worry, honey. We're going to make sure you feel perfectly at home. I got you some sushi, I know you love it." Marie helped carry Chloe's numerous bags into the house.

'Oh wow, really?" Chloe began, "is it just you here?"

"Yep. Pretty much, I've been all alone, but not anymore, baby girl."

Chloe quickly realised her recent attitude change. "Oh, well... pfft. I guess it'll do. Although I'm used to staff..." she trailed off, noticing her mom's smiling face. Usually, people would be upset, or mad at her at this point. "Why..why are you smiling" she couldn't keep her facade, she was too curious.

"How could I not be? My daughter just came back to me! Here, darling, sit at the table and eat, I'll bring your bags upstairs." She guestured to the table which had a plate of sushi neatly layed out.

Even if she was rude... her mom didn't care? This was new.

* * *

Her room was definitely not as big as she was used to, and it was a struggle fitting all her clothes in the normal sized closet, but she was comfortable. Her room and bed were painted yellow, her favourite colour. Wow, her mom must have really been preparing.

"Wow, you have some of the things from when I was younger." Chloe acknowledged, approaching the dresser top, which had her favourite toy from her childhood, a little doll.

"Yeah, I kept this room with some of your things in case you wanted to come visit me. I guess it turned out pretty well." Her mom laughed shyly.

Chloe turned around and smiled at her mom. "I guess it did."

* * *

"Hey... mom?" She yelled, and footsteps echoed through the house as her mom came to her room.

"What is it, darling?" She asked.

"I... just wanted to know if you could help me with my homework? Sabrina's busy today, so-"

"Oh, of course!" Marie seemed slightly desperate to spend time with her daughter. "What is your homework?"

"Particle physics. I just don't get it at all! Like this... I don't understand bonding." Chloe sighed.

"Particle physics... let's see..." Marie looked around, thinking. "Aha! Well, Chloe, you like clothes, right?" She asked, earning a blank nod. "Well, who's your best friend that you like to share clothes with?"

"Sabrina."

"Okay! So you can be Chlorine, haha it sounds a little bit like Chloe too! And Sabrina can be Sodium, which also sounds like Sabrina!" Chloe laughed at the comparison.

"Now, Chlorine really needs a purse to go with her new top, and Sodium has one that matches really well! So Sodium gives the purse (the electron) to Chlorine. Now both of them have complete outfits(shells), because Chlorine has the purse she was missing, and Sodium doesn't have an extra purse! Now, they are friends, attracted to each other, because Sodium gave Chlorine her electron." Marie explained.

"And then they become Sodium Chloride!" Chloe finished happily. "Thanks, Mom, Daddy never really had time to help with homework. That's why I usually let Sabrina do it for me." Chloe admitted, embarrassed.

"I will always have time for you, Chloe. I want you to succeed, and of your own merits, not by manipulating other people. I am going to be so proud of you one day." Her mom hugged her. "Now, get along, that homework is due tomorrow, isn't it!"

* * *

Chloe hurried into school. She had been extremely conscious when she got out of the small car and not a limo, and felt everyone's stares. She slid into her seat next to Sabrina, holding her head high.

"Are you okay, Chloe?" Sabrina asked.

"Well of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?" She replied sarcastically.

"Chloe." Adrien called her, for once.

"Yes, Adrikins?" He walked closer to her, not wanting to announce to the whole class.

"I... I heard what happened with you and your dad. Are you okay?" He whispered.

"Oh well..." she paused, glancing at Marinette, who seemed angry at Adrien whispering in her ear. "Oh it was drastic, Adrien, you should have been there to protect me!" She complained loudly. "I just need some comfort today." She sobbed, pulling Adrien to sit next to her, and wrapping his arm around her.

"Oh, of course." Adrien replied, unable to argue. He looked over to Nino, who rolled his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

"Adrien, you shouldn't let Chloe play around with you like that!" Marinette complained after class, once Chloe was out of earshot.

"I can't help it, Marinette! Her dad kicked her out." He whispered in reply. "I'm sorry." He bent down and kissed her forehead. "But you know you're mine."

Marinette's cheeks turned bright red; since they found out each other's identities, they had been together and completely in love.

"Okay, kitty, just be careful." A tiny hand tickled under his chin, he loved it as much as any cat would.

"When am I not, purrincess?" He smirked, then followed quickly with "Actually, don't answer that."

* * *

"Hey, honey, it's been a long day at work today, so I'm just going to call for some pizza, okay?" Marie dismissively yelled while punching the numbers into the phone.

"Pizza?" Chloe whispered. "Oh no, I can't... pizza? You mean peasant food?" She didn't want her mom to hear, but she couldn't help it.

"What was that, sweetie?" Her mom popped her head around the door. The phone was already plastered to her ear.

"Oh.. I just said that's..." she gulped "okay."

"Oh, thank goodness, honey. It'll be here in a few minutes."

* * *

"Come on, Chloe, pizza's here!" She heard the echo of her mom's voice fill the house. The voice caused memories, which brought her both happiness and the urge to burst into tears.

But the fact it was pizza... she didn't know if she could eat it. She hadn't eaten any for years. And of course, it was food for peasants! Packed with carbs! She inched downstairs, smelling the hot food.

It didn't... smell bad...

The girl sat down in front of the box, which her mother opened. "Voila" she laughed.

"Oh yay..." Chloe tried to hide her disgust, and picked up a piece, hating the feeling of having to hold food in her hands instead of using utensils.

Her mom didn't hesitate to take a giant bite, not noticing her daughter's facial expression.

"Cmon, Chloe, you can do this." She whispered to herself. With that, she took the smallest bite possible off the tip of the slice, chewing it slowly.

What was that..? Did it taste... good?

She had to take another bite to make sure, in case the first time was just a lack of substance. This time, it was bigger, and her suspicions were confirmed. This peasant food wasn't bad. Actually, it was quite good. She quickly finished, and picked up another piece.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" Marie laughed.

Chloe paused, swallowing what was in her mouth. "Umm, well actually I haven't eaten pizza in a long time." She admitted.

"What? Really?" Her mom exclaimed. "Well, no wonder, I'm sure you were eating fancy food this whole time."

Her mom looked somewhat hurt. She never really had cared when someone was hurt before, even her dad, but this was different. "Oh, well, not really..." she trailed off, unable to argue since it was true. "Actually, yeah, I have." Her head hung in defeat.

"It's okay, Chloe. You don't have to feel bad about it. In fact, I'm the one who feels bad for not being able to provide you all the fancy things you're used to."

"What? You shouldn't feel like that." Chloe responded, then turned her face away. All these feelings and memories were starting to mess with her head.

"I mean... I was used to all that stuff. But I can get used to this." She was willing to change if it was for her mom. If this was her new life, she was going to have to accept it.

* * *

"Are you feeling better today, Chloe?" Sabrina asked cautiously.

"You know what, Sabrina? I do. I think I'm going to be okay." She declared, then followed with a whisper "but don't you dare tell anyone I feel like that."

Looking over to Adrien, she smiled. The first genuine smile she had shown in school for a long time. And Adrien could tell. This time, he didn't awkwardly wave back, or cringe. He saw the girl he once knew when he was a child.

* * *

"What do you think about us going to the mall today, Chloe?" Marie asked nervously.

Chloe didn't respond for a bit, and continued typing on her phone. She looked up at the door, tilting her head to the side like a dog. "The mall?" She sighed. "Okay."

Her mom squealed, extremely excitedly. "Great! Let's go!"

Chloe hadn't been to the mall in a long time. Her clothes were usually designer, bought exclusively. But she knew how happy her mom would be to shop with her.

Either way, she would get new clothes. And she loved that, because something told her she wouldn't be getting designer clothes from her father's money anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

"Chloe, I need to tell you something." Marie nervously entered, home from work, into the lounge. Her daughter was sat on the couch, writing in a workbook, with big headphones over her head.

Hearing her mother enter, Chloe pulled the headphones down to sit around her neck. "What did you say, mom?"

The blonde put her bag down, and circled the couch to face her daughter. "I have something to tell you."

"Oh, why do you seem so nervous? Are you okay?" Chloe worriedly questioned, closing her book with the pencil as the bookmark as her mom sat down and awkwardly smiled.

"I...have a boyfriend. How do you feel about that?" There was a long pause.

Chloe didn't know what to think. She had to break the silence, but she didn't have anything to say. "Well... I don't know how I feel about that." Was all she could muster.

"He's really sweet when you get to know him, promise, he'll grow on you-"

Marie was cut off by her daughter. "I don't want to know right now. I need to think. I don't really want to know who he is."

The woman sighed. "Okay. Just... I've set up a dinner tomorrow night with him and his son." She called as Chloe ran up to her room.

* * *

Boyfriend? With a son? Now? This could not be good. It had been two months living with her mom, and she had just got used to just being those two.

When she thought about it, she was much better off now that she had lived with her mother. She was less spoilt, and had caught up on years of bonding. She couldn't lose that! Chloe had just got comfortable. It wasn't fair. She had a dad. Not a good one, but he didn't need replacing.

Tonight, she was going to meet him. She had slept on it, but her mind hadn't changed. She still didn't want to know who he was. Most likely she had never met him. She just wanted to ignore her mom for now.

Being a weekend, she didn't have much to do, so she decided to meet up with Sabrina. "Bye Mom, going out with Sab." She yelled briefly, before meeting her friend at the door. Her accent had calmed too, it was mostly fake for show, and drama. She was more casual now.

"Hi, Chlo! How are you?" The shorter girl greeted her.

"To be honest, not so good." They walked along to the park, and Chloe explained her situation to her best friend.

"Wow, that's crazy. So you don't even know who he is?" She gasped.

"Nope." Came the short reply, then she spotted a certain blond haired boy on a date with his girlfriend. "Oh, hi Adrien! Marinette!" She waved enthusiastically towards their bench, and both smiled and waved back.

"How's it going?" She walked over to them and smiled. Marinette was always still cautious of Chloe, but that was just instinct. Chloe couldn't do anything about it.

"It's great, we were just enjoying the great weather. How is it with you, Chlo?" Adrien responded kindly.

"Oh, great." She was smiling like a lunatic, and shoved Sabrina lightly at her confused protests.

"What are you doing tonight, Adrikins?" Marinette joked, stressing on the pet name. Usually she would call him Chaton or a pun to tease him, but it still wasn't public.

"Oh, sorry Mari, family obligations call tonight." He sighed "Yeah, sorry" he added when her face dropped. "You know my dad. He wants me somewhere, I gotta be there, even if I don't know what for." He laughed a little embarrassedly.

"Too bad, lets hang tomorrow, okay?" She replied, like an excited child. It was a whirlwind for her to find out about him being Chat, and that he actually liked her back. She was still insecure that it was all fake, and had to remind herself that it wasn't.

The two friends walked away as the couple continued their conversation. Silence remained, as Chloe didn't have anything to say, and Sabrina was too scared to ask further questions.

It was broken by the smaller girl. "Chloe..." she almost whispered. "Do you still like Adrien?" She instantly turned her head away in fear.

"I don't really know." Chloe sighed, and decided to explain everything to her friend. The things nobody knew. "When I was younger, Adrien was my only friend. That was mostly because both our fathers were rich, but he was always there for me." Sabrina nodded as Chloe continued.

"When my mom left, he was there for me. But I quickly forgot where I was, and changed. To the person I was before. And then I liked Adrien because... of his money, and fame, and looks." She admitted embarassedly. "And maybe deep down because he was the only one who was still there for me." She sighed.

"But I can see he's changed. He's distant from me. And now that I've changed, I like him because of who he is. Not his money. Not his fame, it's not important anymore. But he will never love me back, because he has her." She glanced backwards, to see the boy she loved and the girl he loved, laughing together in the distance.

"And he deserves her." She finished.


	4. Chapter 4

"I. Am. Not ready for this." Chloe was in her room, trying to pick something out to wear to dinner with her mom and her mysterious boyfriend. "What am I supposed to wear?" She desperately asked.

"I don't know, what do you know about him?" Sabrina was sat on Chloe's bed, watching her best friend try on the sixth outfit.

"Nothing. I don't even know who he is." Chloe sighed. "I told her not to tell me, not even his name." She paced to her wardrobe again, deciding she didn't want to wear a dress.

"Wellll... do you want to impress him? Or do you want to slack off?" Her friend asked. The answer was important.

If she impressed him, she would make a good impression, and it was what she did best. But her mom would be more likely to stay with him. If she bombed her outfit, he could be driven away, and she would have her mom back, but she would be sad.

"Happy medium?" She suggested. Fate could allow itself to work this one. She had hated fate until recently.

* * *

"Well, you look pretty Mrs Bourgeois!" Sabrina exclaimed as she walked downstairs behind her best friend.

"Oh Thank you, Sabrina, but please, call me Marie!" the woman answered. She did look beautiful. She was wearing a long dress that matched the colour of her eyes. On her feet were heels (as she was not particularly tall) of the same shade, and there was a matching hairpin in the shape of a butterfly.

"He must be special." Sabrina smiled warmly, nudging Chloe. The daughter was wearing a long yellow off-the-shoulder top and blue casual jeans. Her hair was loosely curled, and falling down her shoulders. She tried to look good enough without looking as if she put a lot of effort into it.

"Oh and Chloe, you look adorable too." Her mom either ignored or didn't notice the subtle guesture and tone. "But it doesn't matter what we look like, because he loves us as us!"

Chloe resisted the urge to roll her eyes. How could he if he didn't even know Chloe?

"Actually, I really want to impress him." Marie sighed. "He does love me and I know he will love you no matter what you wear, but I'm still nervous."

* * *

"Almost there, honey!" Marie sang, but Chloe could hear her voice shaking with worry. Chloe was worried too, but there was no getting out of it now.

They were in Marie's car, it wasn't cheap, but it wasn't a limo. Chloe had since decided that it was much more cozy than a limo.

She closed her eyes and opened the window to feel the air, when it slowed and eventually stopped.

"We're here!" Her mom whispered, and opened the door. Chloe's eyes slowly, reluctantly opened, and she suddenly gasped.

They were outside the Agreste Mansion.

After standing and gaping mindlessly at the large building, Chloe realized her mom had made her way to the door, and hurried to catch up with her before she could ring the doorbell.

No words were coming out of her mouth. She didn't know what to say to her mom. All that was heard was heavy breathing as her mom pressed the doorbell, and a camera shot out of the wall.

It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, as whoever was on the other side of the camera recognized the faces. Barely a moment later, the large gates opened.

* * *

A thin woman with glasses and her black hair in a bun greeted them, waving the, towards the front door. "Welcome, Mrs and Miss Bourgeois. Please, come inside." Chloe didn't recognize her, so she must not have worked for Adrien's family when Chloe used to go there.

They were directed to a large, stretched out white table, which Gabriel was stood tall next to. He held his hand out for Marie to take, and she smiled as she took it. The man, who was wearing a completely white suit, guestured for Chloe's mom to sit in the chair beside him, and as she did, he pushed it towards the table.

Adrien was standing on the other side of the table, face down to the marble floor. Gabriel showed Chloe to her seat beside him, then sat down in his own seat. It all seemed so formal.

"Hi, Adrien!" Chloe whispered, scared to break the formality.

"Hey, Chlo" he replied, keeping his head down. He was wearing grey suit trousers, and a white button shirt lazily tucked into them. He didn't have a tie. Like Chloe, he must have been against the union of their parents.

Their food was brought in, and the adults began their chatter, the atmosphere loosening up. Chloe stayed silent, following Adrien, but decided to try to break the silence between them.

"So..." she attempted, and his eyes widened, head lifting to turn to her. His hand, which had been using the fork to push around the food on his plate, stopped in its tracks.

"Our parents are dating." Was all she could think to say.

"They are." He mumbled, and his hand continued.

"Don't play with your food." Gabriel told off his son for the fourth time.

"Did you know it was my mom?" She asked quietly. His head turned to face her surprisedly.

"You didn't?" He almost yelled.

His father paused his conversation with his girlfriend, and his voice grew stern. "Please Adrien, can we stay calm for our guests?"

"Sorry, Father." He murmured.

"I told my mom not to tell me who it was." She explained. "I didn't want to know, in case I didn't like him."

"I wish I didn't know." He whispered, a bit too loud to hear. Then, realizing what he had said, his face froze. "I mean... not because I don't love your mom, I just..." his voice trailed away defenselessly.

"You're not ready to let your mom go. I get it." She finished for him. "I know. When my dad kicked me out, I felt alone, abandoned. I thought I'd never get used to just being with my mom." She comforted him. "But I got used to it, and I felt betrayed that she got a date." She finished.

"At least you know your dad." He argued. "I feel like he's trying to replace her." He looked down at his phone; his background was still a picture of him and his mom hugging. "We don't know where she is and I think he's trying to forget her."

"Your mom was an amazing woman, Adrien." She tried to comfort him. "So if you knew, why did you tell me in the park that you didn't..." she asked.

"I didn't know if you knew. So I didn't want to ruin it for you. Sorry." He put his hand on her knee, and her insides turned warm.

"It'll be okay." She finished, trying to ignore the sudden heat in her stomach. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad that her mom had a boyfriend after all...


	5. Chapter 5

"Sabrina, I'm not kidding, it was worse than I thought." She began before her friend could say hello.

"How bad could it have gone? What happened?" Sabrina curiously questioned.

"Terribly." They sat down in their seat, when Adrien walked in with Nino, and sat on their desk. The blond boy waved to Chloe and smiled, but her reply was looking away shyly.

"Sabrina, can we swap seats today?" She asked desperately.

"Sure, but why..." the smaller girl began, but before she could finish, Chloe had jumped over her and sat on her side of the bench.

"I just wanna sit on this side today. I'll explain later." Then Miss Bustier walked in and began talking.

"Okay class, settle down."

Adrien turned to face behind him. "Hey, Mari, can I talk to you later?"

"Yeah sure" she responded, then turned to Alya. "Chloe's acting weird today, isn't she?"

"When isn't she?" Laughed the orange haired girl.

* * *

"Marinette!" Chat was sat in the window, smiling adorably.

"God Adrien, I didn't think this is what you meant when you said you wanted to talk to me!" She laughed. "You haven't come to my window in ages." She smiled at the memory.

"Shh! Don't blow my cover!" He laughed and put a finger on her lips. "Anyway, my dad is being super close to me today, so the window was my only way out. That being said, I don't have much time." He let off his transformation to talk to her, plagg shooting off to find tikki.

"You know that dinner my dad and I had last night?" He began.

She nodded. "Yeah, you said it was a business dinner you knew nothing about."

"It was a date."

"That's good, isn't it? He's opening up to people?"

"I thought so, but I'm not ready to let go of my mom. And when he's opening up, he's also trying to be all close to me, and acting strange. But it gets worse."

"It's understandable hat you don't want to let your mom go. I'm here for you." She took his hand. "How does it get worse?"

"He's dating Marie Bourgeois."

"Chloe's mom? Didn't her parents split up?"

"And Chloe moved in with her mom a month ago."

Marinette lost grip on Adrien's hand, and stared into his grassy eyes.

* * *

"Gabriel. Freaking. Agreste. Why did it have to be him of all the people in Paris?" Chloe cried to her friend.

"Wait, Chloe, doesn't this mean you get to be closer to Adrien? Isn't that what you wanted?" Sabrina asked confusedly.

"Not as his sister! Plus, he has Marinette, and it's so hard to just sit and watch it all happen." She sighed, flopping onto her bed dramatically. She stared at the ceiling, and put her hand on her leg, feeling how cold it was.

From the moment he had pulled his hand away, she had been cold there.

* * *

Marie's phone rang. "Hey, Gabe." She perked up into the mic.

"Hello-hi." He replied. She knew he was not the most open person, and had recently lost his wife, only a couple years ago. He was cold at first impression, and didn't easily open up. "I just wanted to know how Chloe is doing, is she okay with us?" He asked. She could hear the nervousness in his voice. He did care.

"She's okay as far as I know. How's Adrien?"

"He doesn't talk to me most of the time, but I think he's okay. I think you will be good for him, love, he needs a mother figure again."

"I hope he knows I am not going to be an evil stepmother, replacing his mother. Right?" She worriedly added.

"We can make sure he doesn't. Let's talk to them. Tomorrow.

"I'll see you then, honey." She warmly ended, and he ended the call. She made her way to Chloe's room, where the yellow door was closed.

"Knock-Knock" Marie announced while opening the door. "Dinner is in ten minutes. Sabrina, you're welcome to stay!"

"No objections, lets go!" Chloe jumped up and grabbed Sabrina's hand, pulling her downstairs.

* * *

"I should go, my dad thinks I'm in the bathroom, and we don't want a repeat of last Christmas" Adrien kissed Marinette on the head, and transformed, jumping out of the window.

"Bye, Adrien." The blue haired girl whispered as he left.

* * *

"Why are we going back again?" Chloe whined like a child. Her stomach seemed to be tossing and turning more than she had the night before.

"Gabriel and I want to talk to you and Adrien together." Marie responded simply.

When they arrived, Chloe took her time getting out of the car. Marie suddenly looked nervous, hurrying her daughter up.

This time, Gabriel was stood at the front door to greet them, his son by his side. They all walked inside in silence, except for the quiet muttering between the adults, too quiet to be heard by the children.

Sat in the large living room, Chloe and Adrien failed to look at each other, let alone speak to each other. Marie and Gabriel were stood on the other side of the room, speaking hushedly.

Chloe decided she was tired of the secrecy, and to speak up. "Can you guys please tell me why we're here. If there's some big speech, please give it already." She saw Gabriel's surprised face turn to a slight smirk.

"Okay..." he began, looking at his girlfriend, and taking her hand to lead her to the other couch. "We need to talk to you... about..." he tried to start.

"We wanted to know if... um..." Marie seemed to fail as much as Gabriel had, until he continued her sentence.

"We want to know how you feel." He paused, examining the children's faces. "About us being together."

Chloe and Adrien shared their first glance since entering, on instinct. "Okay." They said in unison.

"Adrien." Marie spoke. "I don't want you to think I'm replacing your mother." Chloe watched his expression turn cold, then sigh, knowing he couldn't say anything to offend her.

 _She's not dead_ he wanted to say. _You can't replace her, ever._ He longed to argue. But he knew he couldn't.

"And I will never be a replacement for your father, Chloe, no matter what happens." This was the most genuine thing Chloe had ever heard Gabríel say, and the first caring thing Adrien had heard his father say in a long time.

"I know..." Chloe quietly mumbled.

"Good. Then... we have an announcement that I hope you guys will be okay with." Chloe's heart started racing, wondering through the suspense.

Marie spoke after a long pause. "We're moving in!"


	6. Chapter 6

She had just got used to a new room. Now she had to get used to another one. And she definitely didn't like this one as much.

Having lived in her dad's hotel for most of her life, she knew what is was like to live in a large place. It was distant. This feeling drastically changed when she moved in with her mom. While her room wasn't large, it was cozy.

But Gabriel was another rich man, who, like her father, could afford to provide large rooms in his mansion. This wasn't necessarily a good thing.

She finally had staff, as she had missed, but it wasn't Jean-whateverhisnamewas. The new cheuffer didn't even talk. Nathalie creeped her out, but at least she remembered her from vague childhood memories.

And the house was so large it felt empty. She hadn't felt this emptiness since living in the hotel.

* * *

She woke up late, because her mom didn't come to wake her up this time. Before she moved in with her mom, that would have been ok, but she had already gotten used to her mom waking her up. At least it was a weekend.

She walked down the large colourless staircase in her yellow fuzzy pajamas. The house was empty, until Nathalie scurried in, almost not seeing the girl.

"Oh, Miss Bourgeois. Good morning." She looked down at her tablet rushedly. "I'm sorry, I have to go, if there's anything you need..." she slowly walked away, obviously trying to not look as if she were running away.

"I'm fine!" She yelled pointlessly; Nathalie probably hadn't heard her anyway.

"Where is everyone?" She looked at her watch. 12:17. Saturday. Adrien was probably in a lesson of some sort, fencing...piano...Chinese, something. 'Gorilla' would be with him.

Gabriel, now he was something else. He was almost a recluse, he was so widthdrawn. He would be with her mom, because she couldn't find her either, but _where?_

Unless he had work. Surely, though, a rich self employed man would give himself a weekend. And if he was, where would her mom be? She still needed to get to know this large house. Well, if nobody was going to be there, she'd go out.

"Sabrina?" Her friend answered immediately. "Wanna go-"

"Sorry, Chloe, I'd love to, but my Dad wants me to come with him to buy a birthday present for my mom. Sorry, can we go out tomorrow instead?"

"Oh.. yeah that's fine. No problem." Her finger brushed the decline button a second after her friend put down the call.

* * *

She wandered the empty house, looking for something, so,done. As far as she knew, there were only two staff who worked here, anybody else like a cleaner or chef didn't live here.

Every room was empty, or the door was locked, like Gabriel's room. Nathalie was at her desk. The atelier was also empty, but she stayed for a second to admire it.

This room, though it had the same bland design as the rest of the house, had a large golden painting of Mrs Agreste looking over it. She truly was beautiful, the painting radiated.

On her right was a large empty black board hanging on the wall, with a gold framing. It's emptiness was unnerving, as it looked like it should be displaying something.

Soon, the room became eerie, so she decided to decided to go back into the coridoor, and look for something to do.

Barely two minutes after she left the atelier, though, she heard footsteps coming from the room itself. She gasped, but walked back towards it in curiosity.

"Hello?" She mumbled.

"Oh!" Mr Agreste appeared. "Hello, Miss Bourgeois." He almost bumped into her, but stopped in his tracks, almost as shocked to see Chloe as she was to see him.

"Um." She was speechless, and scared to ask him where he came from, so she decided to ask something different. "Do you know where my mom is?"

"No, sorry." He answered vaguely, then mumbled about needing to do something, and ran off in another direction.

* * *

Chloe could not play the piano to save her life. She was so bored, so she just sat at the large instrument, and quietly pushed the keys in succession.

She jumped when she heard the large doors open, and leaped out of the seat out of reflex.

"Adrien?" She called out.

"Oh, Hey, Chloe!" He replied while putting his bag down. "What have you been doing?"

"Nothing. I slept in, so..." she laughed.

"Oh yeah. We didn't wanna wake you up." Marie walked through the door.

"Oh hey mom." Chloe said surprisedly.

"Hi, sweetie. I hope you don't mind I went to take Adrien to fencing." This confused Chloe, since Adrien already had a driver. "I wanted to know about him, since he may become my stepson. That way Jacques gets a break for a day." She explained.

"Jacques?"

"Gorilla." Adrien laughed.

"Hey! Don't be rude!" Marie jokingly told him off. "I have to run off again, but I'll be back in an hour, ok honey?"

"K mom, bye." She was still kinda confused, but let everything happen.

"Do you not have anything to do today, Chlo?" Adrien asked as her mom closed the door.

* * *

 **Hey! So I know (season 2 spoilers) that Chloe's mom has been confirmed to be called "Audrey" and quite fashionable, but I'm keeping her name here as Marie because I like to think that in this world, Chloe hated Marinette subconsciously for having such a similar name to her mom. Also, it's been fifteen years. We can imagine her fashionability has probably declined. (I still think she's style queen)**

 **I was going to continue, but im going to make this chapter in 2 parts.**

 **Luv.**


	7. Chapter 7

"No." She replied simply. "Sabrina's busy, and apparently, so is mom." She then explained.

"Huh. Well, I'm not busy anymore, why don't we hang out?" He suggested.

Chloe stood dumbfounded, processing the information. _He_ asked to hang out with _her._ Not the other way around.

"Chloe?" Her mind wandered back to when he said he couldn't be friends with her anymore. " _You have to be nice to people. It's not that hard."_ Since, she had learnt that it was too much effort for almost nothing when she was mean and making plans to ruin people's lives. Her mom had taught her that.

"Oh, uh, yeah why not?" She finally answered. "Where?"

"Well, I don't think my dad will let me go out, but I've had a foosball table for two years and never anyone to play with. Wanna see if you're better at foosball than piano?" He joked.

She was never really sporty, but he had been lonely for so long. "Okay. But just know, I'm not used to losing." She tried to tease.

It must have worked, because he raised his eyebrow, and shot back, "You will be."

* * *

For a girl who had never even heard of foosball before today, she was quite good at it. Her eyes were quicker than she had expected. "Wow, I got another goal!" She squealed in excitement.

"I.. I let you win that one." He stuttered.

"Yeah right, you just don't want to admit I'm better than you."

Adrien laughed. He would admit it, at first, he was letting her win, but then realized she actually could be quite competitive. He had always known she could easily achieve something if she really wanted it, even if it was the wrong thing sometimes. But he knew she had changed recently.

"I'm proud of you, Chloe." He thought out loud.

"I mean..." her cheeks went light pink. "It's not really a big deal to win a game of table football."

He held out his hand to hi-five, and she followed. "I don't mean that, well I mean that, but also I'm proud of you for being... being so mature now. You've changed a lot." He tried to phrase it without insulting her.

He half expected her to have a sarcastic remark about how she wasn't immature before, but she just smiled the most genuine smile he had seen on the girl for a long time. "Thank you, Adrien. I knew I was changing, but hearing that, especially from you of all people..." she paused, looking up at the high ceiling. "It means more to me than you know."

She had been trying hard to avoid the emerald eyes across from hers, for fear of melting straight into them.

"Chloe, I always knew you had the capacity to be the girl you are now." He reached out his hand and touched hers, causing her to look up at him. It happened, her face softened and body weakened, and she found herself biting the inside of her cheek.

"Thanks." She replied through clenched teeth after a few seconds, suddenly freezing her whole body. "Hey, I'm tired, how about we take a break." She suggested, not wanting to falter in the game.

He smiled and pulled his hand away to scratch the back of his head, eyes wandering to the floor. "Sure, why don't we go get a snack? We can ask the personal chef to make something?"

* * *

They once again sat at the large table, except now more relaxed, without pressures of parents or impressions. The chef hadn't been there, so they had simply taken a tub of ice cream from the giant fridge, and were now using spoons to scoop it out of the tub.

"I miss ice cream, I haven't had it in so long." Adrien licked the melted ice cream off his lips.

"Doesn't your dad let you have ice cream because you're a model?" Chloe gasped.

"I mean, he let me, I just always worried that if I did have it, he might disapprove. When it was his decision, salad always won, even if he never stopped me."

"That makes sense." Chloe tried to be understanding, and shoved a large spoon in her mouth without looking, only realizing the freezing sensation a few seconds later. "Aaah! Cold! Brain Freeze!" She scream as she attempted to swallow it.

Adrien burst into laughter. "You're hilarious." He took his spoon and shoved it into the ice cream, then proceeded to wipe a small blob of pink on Chloe's nose.

"Aah!" She laughed, and stuck her tongue out. When that didn't work, she used her finger to guide the ice cream into her mouth. "It would have been great to have this for the past 10 years." She sighed.

"I've been your friend for longer than that." Adrien tilted his head to the side.

"Yeah, But our friendship was so forced..." she looked at the ground. "Both our fathers having reputations, the only real thing was when Mom left, and were like 5."

"I'll always be here for you, Chloe." Adrien placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "It may not have been the comfiest of friendships, but I don't hate you for how you acted before. You were going through a lot." She looked up at him, and he looked so sincere.

"Nobody cared enough to say that before." She whispered. It was true. Not her mom, nor her dad. Not even Sabrina. Without thinking, she moved forward and kissed him. Lips sticky but sweet from the ice cream, she only realized how big of a mistake she was making when she had gone too far.

For a second, he would be okay with it. For a moment in frozen time, they had a moment. Then that moment ended, and he found himself dropping the tub of ice cream and his spoon out of shock, and using his sticky hands to gently push her away.

Her eyes looked betrayed, but understanding. "I.. I shouldn't have done that. That was, that was really dumb." Her voice cracked.

"I-I'm gonna clean up this mess..." he gestured to the puddle of pink ice cream on the floor under his chair. She nodded. Something in the back of her mind was telling her he may have liked it, that for a millisecond, he might have kissed her back. She pushed the feeling away, and replied finally "I'll, um, get some towels." She turned away before any tears had the chance to escape her eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

They didn't talk to each other for the rest of the day. Marie had come home about two hours later and found Chloe locked in her room scoffing chocolates, hugging Mr. Cuddly. The only thing that had stayed with her for her whole life.

"We're going to have dinner together again, come on Chloe!" Marie sang as she knocked on the door. "Is everything okay?" She asked as Chloe emerged slowly.

"I'm fine." Chloe didn't even care about her lie being obvious. Today, she sat 6 seats down from where Adrien usually sat, but her attempt was failed when Gabriel insisted that she sit closer to the rest of them.

Since she had come to live with him, he had been trying to stop calling her "Miss Bourgeois" as much. It was obviously difficult for him, but it was much better being called Chloe instead. "Bourgeois" reminded her of her dad; she still didn't fully understand why he had to kick her out, but she didn't want that reminder.

* * *

"You're both awfully quiet today..." Marie broke out of her giggly chatter with Gabriel and addressed the two silent teenagers.

Adrien yawned. "I'm just tired from Fencing. And I've got homework due on Monday."

"See, Gabriel, he's worked too hard! Give him a break." Adrien looked taken aback. Nobody ever had the nerve to say that to his father, not even Nathalie. Only his mom had ever said anything along those lines. The room fell silent, until it was broken by Gabriel.

"Chloe, how about you?" The girl cleared her throat.

"I, just uh, I've been... kinda bored today." She tried to sound like she didn't care about anything.

"Well then maybe you could help me." He suggested as he took a sip of water. "After dinner I need your help... with some designs." He paused suspiciously. "It's very secret but I thought you'd have an eye for it. And that could... give us a chance to bond, as you suggested, Marie."

Marie looked very pleased with the suggestion, so Chloe smiled and accepted. She was, after all, a big fan of Gabriel's work and helping him would have been an honour at any stage. "I'd love to."

* * *

After dinner, before Chloe went to the atrium, Adrien pulled her to the side. "It was nothing, okay? Please can we forget it?"

"Why?" He obviously didn't want to talk about it, and was talking extremely hushedly considering the room was empty.

"Chloe, you know I appreciate your friendship, and we've known each other our whole lives, but you know I have a girlfriend..." he knew he couldn't use the excuse that they were the couple of superheroes to back up their love story, but that fact should have been enough. "Plus, our parents are dating! I can't date my step sister, even if I... wanted to."

The pause gave Chloe hope, but he seemed adamant. "They aren't married, they aren't even engaged." Adrien's eyes flickered to the side, and he stepped back as if he'd been caught doing something wrong. Chloe turned to follow his gaze, and saw Gabriel in the doorway.

He ushered Chloe towards the door and the atrium. While she passed Adrien, she looked back, and whispered, "I have changed though... you know that." He must have heard, but didn't show any indication of it, just staring at the ground.

"Let's go, Chloe. Adrien, please make sure to practise your piano." Gabríel announced.

* * *

"What do you think about these designs, Chloe?" The mysterious man cautiously called up some designs on his screen. She could see the inspiration from the previous villains of Paris. Strange. She shivered at the sight of the inverted black and red pattern she had once worn when she was akumatised.

"They're very interesting." She replied.

"I, uh... want to ask you something." He was looking at the floor. Gabriel wasn't usually one to be nervous...

"Okay?" She shrugged.

"I... really like your mother, Chloe. I want to propose to her."

"What?!" Everything started spinning? "Um..." she gulped, taking a step back, and lay a hand on the wall beside the painting of his ex wife.

"I won't do it unless you're okay with it. I want you to be comfortable, and know that I do love her." He was being so kind for one reason.

"Did... you ask Adrien yet?" Was all she could think.

"I will... but look at this." He pulled a small box out of his pocket. She took it and opened the lid. Inside was a beautiful diamond ring. Her mom would love it. Her mom loved him.

She ended her own world with the two words that followed.

"Do it."

* * *

 **Hey look, I'm not dead!**


End file.
